The lobbying campaign against the legislation is being led by Philadelphia archbishop Charles Chaput, a staunch conservative who recently created a stir after inadvertently sending an email to a state representative Jamie Santora, in which he accused the lawmaker of “betraying” the church and said Santora would suffer “consequences” for his support of the legislation. The email was also sent to a senior staff member in Chaput’s office, who was apparently the only intended recipient.

The email has infuriated some Catholic lawmakers, who say they voted their conscience in support of the legislation on behalf of sexual abuse victims. One Republican legislator, Mike Vereb, accused the archbishop of using mafia-style tactics.

“This mob boss approach of having legislators called out, he really went right up to the line,” Vereb told the Guardian. “He is going down a road that is frankly dangerous for the status of the church in terms of it being a non-profit.”

We can set aside the absurdity of the church’s non=profit status for the moment. The issue here is that the bill would allow victims to file claims until they are 50-years-old. It would appear to be retroactive, meaning that if a person would were prevented from filing a suit under law, which stops at 30-years-old, they could do it under the new law. If it passes, it opens the door for many new lawsuits, potentially costing the Catholic Church millions of dollars.

This obviously poses a problem for the Church, hence the opposition to the bill. However, what is unusual is the attack on the legislators themselves. According to the article: Continue reading →

What does it say about our society when we are only acknowledging the reality of female sexual perpetrators at the end of 2016?

As much as I detest the “it’s the current year” argument, I feel it is applicable in this instance. Despite all the progress made in victim advocacy in the last thirty years, we still hesitate to admit that women commit sexual violence. The hesitation comes in part from cultural norms about women’s capacity for violence, in part from assumptions about male victimization, and in part from a political movement that frames sexual violence as a “gendered” crime.

I havewrittennumeroustimesaboutfemalesex offenders. While the topic receives less media and scholarly attention, there are plenty of studies showing the prevalence of female sexual perpetration. I previously noted that if one looks at these studies in chronological order, the reported rate of female perpetration, particularly against male victims, increases over time. The more we study the topic, the more obvious it becomes that not only do women commit sexual violence, but that they represent the majority of people who sexually assault men and boys.

As shown above, none of this information is new. I pieced it together without access to scholarly publications. Other advocates, men’s rights activists, and even feminists have done the same. The information is scattered and somewhat limited, yet it is not hard to find.

80.9% of sex convicts in Lagos prisons abused during childhood — At least, 80.9 percent of sex convicts and inmates awaiting trial for sexual and gender based violence in Lagos prisons have been abused during childhood, a recent report has revealed. The report, conducted by the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Response Team, DSVRT, revealed that due to the early abuse, the inmates had been sexually active, leading to sexual offences being committed by them.

Archdiocese of Ottawa paid former altar boy $50,000 after sex abuse allegations — More than a decade before the Archdiocese of Ottawa told Jacques Faucher he could no longer be a priest, it paid tens of thousands of dollars to a former altar boy who had accused the reverend of molesting him. Faucher was convicted in March of historical sex offences against three other children, but newly obtained documents by the Sun show the diocese wrote a $50,000 cheque to a former altar boy when he was an adult in 1998, more than a year after he told the church about the alleged sexual abuse.

Denver man freed after 28 years in prison acquitted of rape — A Denver man who spent more than a quarter of a century in prison for a rape he long denied committing was acquitted of the crime on Monday, leaving a courtroom to applause from supporters and chants of “it’s over.” Clarence Moses-EL, 60, was freed in December, after a judge overturned his 1988 conviction on rape and assault charges and found that he would likely be acquitted if his case went to trial again. Continue reading →

India proves yet again that it is a terrible place for male rape victims. In case that I cannot begin to explain, Indian police charged a 12 year old boy with rape after an 18 year girl gave birth at a hospital:

Kalamassery police have registered a case against a 12-year-old boy and a private hospital here after an 18-year-old girl gave birth to a baby.

While the boy was booked under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act for allegedly impregnating the girl two months before she turned 18, the hospital was charged for breaching the POCSO Act by not informing the police.

[…] having the actual charge of, or control over, a child, assaults, abandons, abuses, exposes or wilfully neglects the child or causes or procures the child to be assaulted, abandoned, abused, exposed or neglected in a manner likely to cause such child unnecessary mental or physical suffering […]

If it seems like you are missing something, you are not alone. I looked up as many articles about this case as I could find, and not one of them explained how anyone determined that the 12 year old fathered the child, let alone why he and not the girl was held responsible. This was the best explanation: Continue reading →

I wrote about case in February in which an Iraqi refugee raped a 10-year-old boy because the man had a “sexual emergency”. The man, known as Amir A, claimed he had not had sex in four months and felt the need to release his “excess sexual energy”. He assaulted the boy while they were a pool facility. After the assault, Amir went back to the pool and continued diving and swimming. The boy reported the assault, and when confronted, Amir admitted to committing the crime.

This occurred Austria, a country that has taken in a number of Middle Eastern refugees. The Austrian government tries, like many European nations, to avoid any apparent attacks on Middle Easterners or Muslims. While this is a noble and reasonable position, the application of it is far from either of those. Instead of revealing what happened, the Austrian government attempted to conceal the assault from the media, claiming to do so for the victim’s protection.

I happened upon the Polished Man campaign a few days ago. It is a campaign dedicated to raising awareness about sexual abuse against children by men. It is important to make that distinction because the campaign fails to acknowledge that women can be and are the perpetrators of sexual abuse against children. From the campaign’s website:

Why Men?

90% of all sexual violence against children is perpetrated by men.

But that doesn’t mean we are pointing the finger.

We’re asking men to lead the way, to start conversations and challenge the culture from where they stand.

One man-i-cure at a time.

That is not entirely true. I havewrittennumeroustimesaboutfemalesex offenders. Not only it is evident that women commit sexual violence, but it also appears that women, according to a feminist-run study, to commit at least 40% to 60% of the sexual violence against males. We can see this trend in action by looking at studies over the years. The more people research this topic, the more we find that women are responsible for a large amount of sexual violence.

I understand the point of the campaign. It is the typical self-indulgent, viral hashtag activism that is so popular these days. It is not that the celebrity men do not care about preventing child rape. It is that very little will actually come of it beyond pandering to people’s need to seen in a certain light.

Yet what makes the campaign so troubling is that it misrepresents the problem by explicitly blaming men for sexual violence, effectively erasing female perpetrators. It also uses a clear gendered element to campaign, implying boys are not victims of sexual violence. The campaign is little more than virtue signalling.

Of course, this begs the question of who the campaign reached the “90% of all sexual violence against children is perpetrated by men”. I will let TL;DR explain, as he did a tremendous job of pointing out the gross negligence of this campaign: Continue reading →

Often times people want to help others but do not know how. This cannot be any truer than when it comes to helping abused men and boys. The resources sometimes are not apparent and are often difficult to find. Sometimes the resources are hidden or even barred by other groups who wish to polarize the issue. The intent here is to provide those who wish to help male victims with the opportunity to do so.

Please remember that you do no have to empty your wallets to help. Even a small donation can go a long way. And for those on the other side of the issue, it would go a long way to demonstrating real concern for all victims if you donated as well.

Hagar restores to wholeness the lives of women and children in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Vietnam that have been torn apart by human rights abuse. Walking the whole journey of protection, recovery, empowerment and integration with each individual is the whole reason for Hagar.

Established in Cambodia in 1994, Hagar launched programing in both Afghanistan and Vietnam in 2009.

In 2004, the U.S. State Department named Hagar founder Pierre Tami as one of the its six international heroes in the struggle against the modern-day slave trade.

Because we believe that broken lives can become whole again.

Hagar’s name derives from the biblical story of Hagar in Genesis 16 and 21. Read the Hagar Biblical Story.

Currently, Hagar supports 1,200 women and child victims of trafficking, domestic violence and exploitation in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Vietnam. They were among the world’s most broken and despondent people… but not now.